{"id":13098,"date":"2022-01-28T03:27:27","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T11:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=13098"},"modified":"2022-01-31T03:28:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T11:28:51","slug":"the-battle-to-save-waikiki-beach-politico-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=13098","title":{"rendered":"“The Battle to Save Waikiki Beach”, Politico Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Melanie Warner,\u00a001\/28\/2022, The Friday Cover<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Hawaii\u2019s most iconic beach is quickly becoming a poster child for why it\u2019s so hard to adapt to a changing climate.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

A staircase comes to an abrupt halt near the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu. | Photos by Marco Garcia for Politico Magazine<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

HONOLULU \u2014<\/b> Waikiki might be one of the most famous beaches in the world<\/a>, a synonym for surfing and sun-soaked vacations that draw millions of people annually. But for years, Honolulu and the State of Hawaii have been reckoning with a very uncomfortable fact: The beach is vanishing.\u00a0<\/b>Just below the infinity pool at the Sheraton Waikiki, an advancing shoreline claimed a walkway and set of concrete stairs, which now dangle above the water. At the Outrigger Reef hotel, ocean\u00a0<\/b>water laps directly against the wall of the new Monkeypod Kitchen restaurant, still under renovation.<\/p>\n

Like many places buffeted by the ocean, Waikiki has swung into action \u2014 to a point. The hotels along the beach are worth north of a billion dollars, and to preserve that investment, hotel owners and other businesses fund the Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District Association as a kind of coastline-repair department. Near the pink, 94-year-old Royal Hawaiian hotel, <\/b>the association (in partnership with the state) recently built a $1.8 million groin \u2014 an L-shaped finger of rock and concrete that juts into the water and holds sand in place <\/b>\u2014 in addition to widening the beach by 30 feet with 20,000 cubic yards of sand vacuumed up from the bottom of the sea. The group\u2019s next phase of work calls for more of the same: Spending at least $50 million, much of it likely from state and perhaps federal funding, on four more groins and the construction of an entirely new beach in the area fronting the Sheraton, Outrigger Reef and Halekulani hotels.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cPeople might be surprised by how much of a man-made beach this is,\u201d says Dolan Eversole, a 51-year-old coastal geologist who represents <\/b>the Special Improvement District Association. On a hot, sunny morning in December, Eversole stood on a narrow walkway above Waikiki\u2019s turquoise waters, motioning toward the existing groin as a steady stream of people emerged from the Royal Hawaiian and onto the sand. \u201cIt literally collects the sand and holds the beach together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

‘Place of Spouting Water’<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

But reengineering the beach in the future is only going to get harder. Studies and modeling show that the combination of thermal expansion and melting polar ice will cause a global, 3.2-foot sea level increase sometime between 2050 and 2100, resulting in twice as much coastal erosion in Hawaii as there would be otherwise. When this happens, today\u2019s projects will seem futile.\u00a0<\/b>\u201cWe\u2019re buying time,\u201d admits Eversole, who also works for the University of Hawaii. \u201cThe beach won\u2019t be here forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither will the rest of Waikiki\u2019s 1.5 square miles beyond the beach, at least not in their current form.\u00a0<\/b>As the ocean expands, water is expected to seep into Honolulu\u2019s porous limestone geology, nudging up the water table and eventually inundating Waikiki\u2019s dense thicket of roads, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and condo towers. At high tides, water already sloshes out of some storm drains and pools in below-ground parking garages. If no action is taken, 6 feet of sea level rise would put Waikiki permanently under water.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n